Easter Simnel Cake.
You can have Easter Simnel Cake using 18 ingredients and 14 steps. Here is how you cook that.
Ingredients of Easter Simnel Cake
- You need 175 g of raisins.
- You need 175 g of sultanas.
- It's 50 g of mixed peel, chopped if necessary.
- Prepare 4 tbsp of brandy, whisky or golden or dark rum.
- You need 50 g of whole skinned almonds.
- Prepare 175 g of self raising flour.
- It's 45 g of ground almonds.
- Prepare 1/2 tsp of fine salt.
- You need 11/2 tsp of mixed spice.
- Prepare 180 g of butter, softened.
- Prepare 180 g of soft, light brown sugar.
- Prepare 3 of eggs, lightly beaten.
- You need of Zest of 1 lemon and 1 orange.
- You need 50 g of glacé cherries, halved.
- It's 1 tbsp of golden syrup.
- You need 75 ml of milk.
- It's 700 g of marzipan.
- It's of Sugar syrup, apricot jam or marmalade, to top.
Easter Simnel Cake step by step
- Mix the raisins, sultanas and dried peel in a bowl and pour in the rum, stir, cover and leave to soak. You can do this a couple of hours ahead if you want to..
- Butter a 20in loose bottomed cake tin, then line the base and sides with baking parchment. Cut a second disc of parchment the same size as the base, and set aside for later. Heat the oven to 130C/1/2 Gas..
- Gently toast the whole almonds in a medium oven until golden, keep an eye on them, set aside to cool. Put the flour, baking powder, ground almonds, salt and mixed spice in a large bowl, whisk together to mix and lose any lumps..
- Beat the softened butter in a food processor, or with an electric beater or a vigorously applied wooden spoon until soft, then beat in the sugar. Continue beating until light and fluffy..
- Add the beaten egg to the mixture, a little at a time, continuing to mix. Add a little flour in between the egg to prevent curdling..
- Add the remaining flour mixture and the orange and lemon zests, and fold in with a metal spoon..
- Roughly chop the toasted almonds and add to the mixture..
- Add the cherries, soaked fruit and rum, and golden syrup to the bowl, and mix well, then stir in the milk so you have a soft dropping consistency..
- Add half of the cake mixture to the tin, and smooth level. Roll out about 200g of the marzipan to a disc just smaller than your tin, and place on top of the cake mixture..
- Spoon the rest of the cake mixture in to the tin, smooth the top, and gently place the disc of baking parchment on top. Bake in the oven for 2 and a half hours. This is an unusually long, slow bake, but the end result was perfect..
- When the cake is cooked (test with a skewer), remove from the oven and allow to cool in the tin until you can handle it, then remove the tin and baking parchment..
- To decorate brush the top of the cake with warmed apricot jam or marmalade. Roll out a disk of marzipan and use the base of the tin to cut an exact circle. Place on top of the cake..
- Form an edging of marzipan to fit round the outside of the top and mark with a fork. Toast briefly under the grill if you wish until golden. Stick on with more jam..
- Fill the centre with thick glacé icing and decorate with little eggs or other Easter decorations..